alt.hn

6/27/2026 at 7:51:26 AM

Researchers have developed pixels that can emit and analyse light together

https://ethz.ch/en/news-and-events/eth-news/news/2026/06/a-new-type-of-pixel.html

by tspng

6/27/2026 at 4:45:35 PM

I agree with the others: this is literally the perfect implementation of literal Big Brother "your TV watches you" tech - this WILL BE ABUSED by Tech Corps + Governments.

We need to stop building surveilance panopticons!

"it is even conceivable that Norris’s pixels could react to a captured image and, without going through a computer, produce corresponding light patterns."

Great, also they invented a digital mirror (and digital fun house mirror).

by layla5alive

6/27/2026 at 5:29:19 PM

>In the future, this could lead to the development of devices that function as camera and display at the same time.

So literally a telescreen from 1984.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telescreen

Anyone that says they don't value privacy and they have nothing to hide is never willing to install a livestreaming camera in their bedroom and bathroom.

The telescreen doesn't really add anything to what we have today, with camera and screen separated. Perhaps it will what finally removes the last place of privacy for regular people, their home. It's already happened with smart tvs and voice assistants but supposedly they don't record all the time.

Most phones seem to have working permissions, not to say that people won't allow microphone access, but it isn't the default. Pretty sure that there's no option for microphone all the time, unlike location.

I definitely could see a "scandal" when smart TV manufacturers start adding these to analyze peoples reactions to advertising.

Could you put it past them considering they already record your screen by default?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Automatic_content_recognition

by Cider9986

6/27/2026 at 8:07:52 PM

> Anyone that says they don't value privacy and they have nothing to hide is never willing to install a livestreaming camera in their bedroom and bathroom.

This company is testing that theory by giving a TV away for free, with built-in second screen for ads, and a camera: https://www.telly.com/

by ImPostingOnHN

6/27/2026 at 7:57:37 PM

It's really absurd that we've boiled the frog until "ads in smart TVs UIs are normal" and now the goalpost was moved to "recording the consumer to show more ads"

by AlienRobot

6/27/2026 at 6:16:02 PM

This reminds me of approximately 30 years ago. While dabbling in ham radio, I learned that speakers can work in reverse as microphones, and vice versa.

by _mocha

6/27/2026 at 7:51:26 AM

Researchers at ETH Zurich have developed a new type of pixel that can not only be used to create images, but also to analyse them.

This could eventually be used for better in-display cameras where the pixels are used as a image sensors.

The researchers have published their results in Nature recently: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-026-10681-7

by tspng

6/27/2026 at 5:11:50 PM

Is this really as detrimental to privacy as other comments claim? There are already very small cameras which can be used for adversarial purposes. This technology could be useful for many utilitarian purposes.

by poly2it

6/27/2026 at 7:09:17 PM

A small camera can easily be covered up. You can't cover something that's embedded into the screen itself.

by WCSTombs

6/27/2026 at 8:15:11 PM

Can you be more precise about what scenario you are envisioning?

by poly2it

6/27/2026 at 4:29:40 PM

A privacy nightmare, this WILL be misused systematically. I used to get excited about new technologies like that, but big tech ruined the future for me.

by emsign

6/27/2026 at 4:32:53 PM

Beautiful! No prole will evade the stare of the Big Brother.

P.S. For the offended at "prole" and /s-agnostic parsers: yes that's who you are for the BB, like it or not. And of course there's nothing beautiful in that.

by wartywhoa23

6/27/2026 at 4:06:13 PM

Love the technological aspect, hate the practical implications. Any part of any screen can be a camera. Good luck covering that with a post-it.

by close04

6/27/2026 at 4:54:19 PM

I wonder if there is any way to counter that.

I can only imagine placing another matching camscreen face to face onto the source one and sending what it sees to a trusted camera-incapable display. But then there is a lot more practical questions and implications..

by wartywhoa23

6/27/2026 at 7:40:42 PM

>I wonder if there is any way to counter that.

Not buying invasive shit?

by aeve890

6/27/2026 at 7:52:42 PM

Sure, unless everything is invasive shit at some point.

Won't happen? Think smartphones. Even if you don't have one, everyone around does, with all the consequences.

by wartywhoa23

6/27/2026 at 5:19:10 PM

Would we even know if a screen is “camera-incapable”? One day the “think of the children” routine will come for your screen.

by close04

6/27/2026 at 5:24:39 PM

That's exactly one of the practical implications I mentioned!

by wartywhoa23

6/27/2026 at 8:06:04 PM

If only that group would consider that its the children being watched, maybe they would think of the children then...

by nilamo